Live Thread: Cavs @ Warriors, NBA Finals Game 1
2016-06-02
The game is set. The opponents are decided. The 2016 NBA Finals are here.
In one of the most hyped Finals contests in recent memory, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers look to take on the defending champion Golden State Warriors led by Stephen Curry and his entourage of position-less, three-point assassins. What’s at stake in this series? Oh, not much. Just a King looking to reclaim his undisputed throne atop the NBA hierarchy and cement his legacy among the elite of the elite of the elite. Just a downtrodden city and fanbase yearning to break an unimaginable 52-year sports curse. And just the greatest deep shooting threat in history seeking validation for a championship whose legitimacy was questioned by many, the bow on top of what could go down as the single greatest season in the history of the NBA — possibly even all of American sports.
These 2016 Finals are hard to predict. While the Warriors reeled off a record 73 wins in the regular season and survived a 3-1 deficit versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cavs have displayed one of the most dominant postseason runs with a 12-2 record and an historic margin of victory at 12.6 PPG. Both the Warriors and the Cavs have set the two most prolific three-point shooting records in the regular season (1,077 for Warriors/880 for Cavs) AND postseason (14.4 per game for Cavs/12.5 per game for Warriors). However, the Cavs enter this series as massive underdogs, viewed as a paper tiger that has feasted on weak competition in a lesser playoff field.
Which team holds the advantage? For every mismatch there seems to be a crossmatch, and for every crossmatch exists a crossmismatch (possibly a word?) and vice versa in this series. How will the Cavs hide Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving on defense if the Warriors look to exploit those two? How will the Warriors keep big men like Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli on the court with Love and Channing Frye stretching the floor? Who wins the point guard battle between Irving and Curry? Can the Cavs both play defense and stay hot from beyond the arc? Do the Cavs stay big or go small to match the Warriors’ vaunted “Lineup of Death”? And do the Cavs have a lineup of non-mortality of their own? So many questions to be asked of this series. Tune in at 9:00 EST to find some answers.
=======================================================
Before you turn your attention to the game, be sure to check out Cavs: the Blog’s fantastic coverage previewing Game 1, including
and Nate Smith’s thoughts on Certainty in sports: https://cavstheblog.com//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////?p=42331
And most importantly, and never forget…
STAY HYPE! GO CAVS!!!
https://www.facebook.com/wearecavsnation/videos/1005196386230853/
Cavs defense killing this team tonite…not sure what is so complex on staying with your man…and really can James Jones or Dahntay Jones be any worse than JR? he’s killing Cavs tonite….completely checked out
Are you effing kidding me? Do you know how often golden state has less than 75 points in the 4th quarter? Cuz I guarantee its not often…
too wide open again for Iggy, how da hell we leaving others besides the splash bros beat us ? unacceptable… this is the game to win at oracle. Our bench need to do a toronto game 4 and score on 14 straight posessions
We won game 2 last year at oracle. There’s more than one way to skin a cat
I say Grit Squad to start the 4th
Sorry not Grit Squad. James Gang rather.
they have been outscored in this game and barely scored, rememebr GSW bench started 7-9 vs them in the second. They need to step up big time
Goddamnit shump!!!
Wtf are they looking at? This is dumb. Tech on Iggy or play on.
More rest for lbj – its all good
Really Marv? Bringing up that ridiculous poll about Delly being dirty?
I hope the Cavs don’t run out of gas after this rally.
Did Barbosa got hurt?
Ugh play on…this is ludicrous
this is great rest for LeBron
Between the last four teams that were left in the NBA playoffs, were we the slowest. We can not get to the shooters fast enough and we have a hard time matching up to other teams speed.
We are doing a damn good job on Curry and Klay !
We need to score and not let this lead to 6 or so and start the 4th cold..things can get ugly fast. Let’s atleast score
https://vine.co/v/iYb0uzhuzXU
Awesome layup.
ugh…Delly barely touched him first of all…second of all Guadalupe should get his act together
If they call that a flagrant i am going to burn down the nba officiating headquarters in secaucus
Shump trying to calm down Iguodala
Iguodala: “He hit me in the ballsack, man!”
At least this break can help the Cavs catch their breath.
Warriors anticipating all the LeBron Delly screens.
Totally irrelevant. LeBron slips, he has a layup. Middle of floor is wide open.
LBJ is driving me nuts. He’s got layups if he rolls on the p/r.
Can’t believe that is being reviewed. bS
LeBron looks so gassed
Gs daring james to shoot, needs to move off ball
Ugh…I am so annoyed the comments section is like 2 mins ahead of Espn3. Ha it takes so much wind out of my sails to know we miss threes before we miss them
That was terrible transition d by the cavs
Are we going to be able to get LeBron a rest to start the fourth and how will we initiate offense? Also will we see more Channing Frye?
Why lebron got more 3 point attempts than JR, and another second chance point off a curry miss
James needs to drop the pullup 3s. You made one but yeah, your shot is till missing
C’mon fellas… grab that lead and stretch it!
http://www.LBJstoptakingthrees.com
long time no Delly to TT OOP
Hell yes!! Two oops this qtr for tt
K love for the lead!!!!
Quick, decisive play by Delly for a LOADED WOMBAT
https://vine.co/v/iYb2nvPvTjM
LOADED WOMBAT!!!
http://img08.deviantart.net/a2ae/i/2009/291/9/7/max_damage_the_combat_wombat_by_vorokoth.jpg
Terrible calls, tick tack, refs trying to save gs
Nice hustle by LOVE
https://vine.co/v/iYb2a39ujua
Our dog just decided that it was getting a little too loud inside.
Love with strength on the finish, finally!!!
Come on james really step back contested three?!!
not going lie, the Cavs are hustling on D
And they look tired.
I don’t understand how some of the Cavs players look gassed already.
Great patience, Cavs!
LET’S GO CAVS!!
GREAT GREAT ball movement on that Love AND 1
https://vine.co/v/iYbQvMZU2DL
That was an offensive foul by green. Really tho…
Tt oop!!!
https://vine.co/v/iYbQBw60rJ3
LBJ with the Loaded Kingly Wombat!
http://orig00.deviantart.net/212f/f/2014/110/f/5/the_wombat_king_by_sirennus-d7fckld.jpg
Wow haven’t seen thompson miss that bad maybe ever! Good contest
How that. A foul on lbj
Nice work by Kyrie drawing the foul. Need tons of free throws this half
Karate Kid Kerr!
https://twitter.com/gifdsports/status/738561517512052740
Thank god James made that three. We need probably 40 from him to win tonight
That three by Iggy was on Bron. You can’t just expect your man to miss.
That’s the guy you want taking the shots, but doesn’t excuse LeBron from not contesting. Iguodala missed on the next possession though
We got to clean up d glass!
we’re not running any offense at all…that’s not how we’ve won in the playoffs
another easy putback after a tough defensive rotation, need to be better
It’s been interesting they’ve put LeBron on Steph on D for some possessions.
Ouch, that three was a momentum killer
James hits a 3 from his off side!
https://vine.co/v/iYbPQKgnALl
LBJ… Feeling it!
Big big big 3
Ha hahaha Kerr losing it, awesome!!!!
I think we should with the terrible oficiating. Not getting Draymond ejected for that blatant karate kick on Adams tells you all you need to know as to how evenly and fairly GS games are officiated. I hope the players are over that and just focus on basketball.
Steve Kerr just broke his clipboard… WITH HIS HAND!
It legitimately feels like the Warriors are dominating this game, but their lead has been cut to 4 points with 8 minutes left in the third quarter. One area where Cleveland is gaining ground: the free-throw line. The Cavs are 10-for-12, while the Warriors are just 1-for-2.
Aight let’s get a rhythm going on both ends
Do people buy Lu’s “they switch on everything so we’re playing 1 on 1?”…where is the extra motion?
Our offense is hyper simplistic, very few 3rd or 4th actions in sets.
Tristan cleans up, Cavs cut the lead to 4
https://vine.co/v/iYbUAIrnHO0
Take advantage of their lack of rhythm Cavs…this is the game you have the best chance of stealing!
Windy said on the radio the other day you have to weather the storm to beat this team. The Cavs players’ (and fans’) mental fortitude will get tested. You fight through that by being aggressive and taking the damn game. Let’s go Cavs!!
Love forced that with wide open irving but tt there to clean up
I mean… Cavs must be doing something right to be limiting the Splash Bros so far… right?
Klay been in foul trouble as a result of our aggressiveness.. Steph has definitely missed some open shots but we’ve stayed on him
cavs need consistency here…defense has been really good lately…..CONSISTENCY!!